Planning for the Future

Yesterday I talked to one of Zion’s teachers. Mrs. J. is already thinking about next year, and Zion won’t even be her student. He’ll be going to junior high, and Mrs. J. wants to make sure we are thoughtful about planning this next step.

As we discussed what’s coming up – Zion’s IEP, his three-year re-evaluation – I began to get emotional. I hate this. By now I should be stoic, ready to take charge of the situation, understanding and accepting of Zion’s abilities and disabilities. I’m not there yet. I’m not sure I ever will be there. My emotions this time stem from my concern about putting Zion into a new environment, a larger environment, where the kids are brutal and the teachers uncaring. Right, I don’t know that this will be the case. Hopefully it won’t be; I’m sure it won’t be. But Zion has been surrounded by educators who care about him, who know him, who have worked with him since first grade. We are a team. We work well together. I don’t question their motives (are they saying Zion doesn’t need this particular service just because they don’t want to pay for it?) or wonder what they’re saying when we aren’t there.

We talked about where Zion is academically and what accommodations he will need. Mostly this is in the area of writing. There are lots of options, but trying to decide what will work best for him in the long term, because let’s face it, Zion needs something that will carry him through to adulthood. (And now I’m back to the emotional but why Zion? This isn’t fair!) I don’t like having this discussion, having to acknowledge all over again that Zion isn’t typically developing. And no, it doesn’t help to think about all the ways it could be worse.

Zion is going to be an important part of this decision-making process. After all, it’s his education. He is closed to one of the options, though – he doesn’t like the school. I think he has his heart set on going where his sister goes, but that might not be the right place for him. There are a lot of steps and conversations between here and there, so we’ll just have to go through the process and see what happens.